Will Hurd: An Example Of The Republican Difference

Congressman Will Hurd won re-election in 2016 in a historic race, running as a Republican in a district that voted for Hillary Clinton.

How does Hurd continue to defy expectations? By being one of the hardest-working Members of Congress in either party.

This is why Republicans keep winning: while Democrats cater to Nancy Pelosi’s every wish, Republicans are hard at work for their constituents.

Via Washington Post:

Hurd stays close to the ground and in constant motion across his district. Across the miles, it can also feel as though he is spanning centuries.

Last Wednesday found him at launch ceremonies for Environmental Protection Agency-funded wastewater treatment facilities that will free 78 remote West Texas households from their reliance on unhygienic cesspools and failing septic tanks.

“When I was making the decision in Afghanistan to run for Congress, I didn’t know I’d be out here talking about sewage services, but this is the stuff people need,” Hurd said.

The next morning began more than 500 miles and a time zone away, in a classroom at San Antonio’s high-tech Open Cloud Academy, where 15 students, mostly veterans, were training to work in cybersecurity. Hurd touted his efforts to expand GI Bill benefits to cover nontraditional courses in information technology.

“Despite what you hear about Washington, D.C., there are some things people work together on,” he said.

Hurd often boasts of the alliances and friendships he has forged across the partisan divide. When a snowstorm closed D.C. airports last month, he and a Democratic colleague, El Paso’s Beto O’Rourke, decided to drive back together, lighting up social media by live-streaming their 1,600-mile road trip for 29 hours.

Among the Democrats considering running next year is former Rep. Pete Gallego, whom Hurd defeated in 2014 and again two years later. One factor in his decision, Gallego said, is the possibility that a court-ordered redrawing of the district map could make it more favorable to a Democrat by removing some affluent parts of San Antonio…

Then again, there will also be forces working in Hurd’s favor. Texas Republicans generally turn out in heavier numbers than Democrats in off-year elections, and in 2018, popular Republican Gov. Greg Abbott will be at the top of the ticket.

As Hurd is well aware, however, big political waves have a way of washing out even the best defenses. So he is determined to move faster than it does.

“One of the things I heard when I was running was that people didn’t feel they’d seen their representative,” he said. “I’m going to kiss every baby in these 29 counties.”